This invention relates to a concrete finishing machine for use in concrete casting system. Such casting systems typically have either a moving bed or a fixed bed on which the concrete panels or planks are formed. In the moving bed systems, a long bed moves on a track past each of the various stations that form the panels. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,153. In a fixed bed, the various stations themselves move, such as a hopper that pours concrete onto the bed.
Prior art approaches have used hand laid patterns which are very labor intensive. Very simple longitudinal ribbing is relatively easy to accomplish as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,682. Brick imprinting on surfaces has been tried with a number of different approaches, including U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,426 which is commonly owned, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The existing machine approaches allow either brick imprinting or raking to be laid down as patterns. It is very desirable to be able to produce panels that have a variety of patterns on them, such as a lower brick imprint with a raked section above the bricks, or rakes with gaps in the raking or bands in addition to longitudinal raking.
The art described in this section is not intended to constitute an admission that any patent, publication or other information referred to herein is “prior art” with respect to this invention, unless specifically designated as such. In addition, this section should not be construed to mean that a search has been made or that no other pertinent information as defined in 37 C.F.R. §1.56(a) exists.